Dudnyk blog
Olympic athletes are eerily similar to your product life cycle
Win a coveted gold medal in our competitive industry with the dedication of an Olympic champion.
Do you remember Dara Torres?
She is a twelve-time Olympic medalist who was competing to enter her sixth Olympic Games in 28 years, but fell short in her quest during the US trials earlier this summer. At age 45, she continues to swim competitively, challenging herself to be among the oldest athletes to compete in the Olympic Games.
Her accomplishments remind me of the way a product life cycle evolves over time.
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Copywriting for the web – game on
How thinking like a video game player can help today’s digital copywriter create copy that improves reader engagement.
“We are no longer readers, we are explorers,” writes David Dylan Thomas in his insightful piece for web writers, Links as Language.
With traditional media, writers were limited to telling a linear story from start to finish. Enter the exceptions to every rule: flashback episodes in television, footnotes in books.
The Choose Your Own Adventure book series of the 1980s and 1990s pushed traditional user experience (UX) even further by allowing readers to select content at the risk that some plotlines may never be read – and that’s perfectly okay. Choose Your Own Adventure unknowingly presented a gentle introduction for the way many of us primarily engage with content today.
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The Road MORE Traveled – for the Biotech Brand Manager
Thinking ahead before a business trip can reduce your stress and increase your productivity—even while you are up in the air.
You are busy—at the office and at home. The unfinished business and household chores are piling up. You feel as though you have no time as it is, and now you need to hop on a plane for a meeting or observe market research testing. How are you to balance the road more traveled, your personal life, and the launch of your new biotech brand?
Traveling for business is not the glamorous lifestyle so many think it is. It’s hectic, stressful—and you rarely get to see anything but a hotel room and a meeting room. Still, if you follow these easy tips, you may find yourself feeling less stressed about getting on the plane, calmer when you arrive at your destination, and more relaxed when you return home.
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6 steps to saving your good ideas
Defuse the death-by-delay attack strategy and protect your good ideas.
You have a great idea that you know will make a critical difference for your brand or your company. You present your idea and expect to receive enthusiastic support. Instead, you find yourself subjected to confounding questions and inane comments. Before you can catch your breath, your good idea is shot down and left for dead. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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What American Idol can teach you about positioning
Strong positioning will help your brand stay relevant after a flashy launch effort.
Kelly Clarkson. Carrie Underwood. Chris Daughtry. Jennifer Hudson.
By now, these people are household names. The alumni of American Idol have sold millions of albums and won numerous industry accolades, including Billboard Music Awards, Grammys, and even an Academy Award.
They sell out arenas, dominate radio playlists, and star in your favorite TV shows. Their impact on the entertainment industry is immeasurable. But at one time, each alumnus was just a face in a crowd, one person in a mass of thousands, waiting for a chance to shine.
So what gave these reality show contestants the power to outlast their 15 minutes of fame? The answer is simple: strong positioning.
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Tailor your brand’s online presence to suit your needs
A 4-step strategy for success.
In our high-speed world of I-need-it-right-now attitudes, the internet is often our primary source of new information. If you don’t make a favorable first impression, you lose your shot at capturing your audience’s attention. That makes it more important than ever to build a strong online presence that reflects who you are as a company.
When it comes to web-based tactics, it is essential to evaluate your needs before you begin to carry out the work. Defining concrete objectives can help you make the smartest decisions about tactics, content, design, and functionality. There is a lot to choose from, and you don’t want to waste your time investing in lost causes.
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Healthcare acronyms can change the world
What’s in a name? Building a plan for acronym acceptance.
IMHO, we live in an age of acronyms that range from texting (IDK) to the medical world. Acronyms for diseases or treatments, such as GERD or ACE inhibitors, have become so mainstream that we barely remember a time without them. Acronyms like these can help overcome marketing challenges and establish a language that can be used by physicians and patients to talk about healthcare issues.
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A tool for brand managers to evaluate creative executions
Avoid comments like “Wow, that’s really cool!” by using this product manager’s checklist for reviewing promotional materials.
My mother used to say when I was a young boy, I enjoyed watching the commercials more than I did the cartoons. Maybe I was just swept up in all those cool spots for Hot Wheels, where the cars seemed to be able to fly through the air by themselves, or maybe I wanted to be just like the kids in the cereal ads—they always seemed to be having so much fun.
Regardless of the reasons for my interest, I must have been destined for a career in marketing and advertising from a very early age.
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Technology is shaping a modern version of the old-fashioned doctor
Food for thought for biotech brand managers.
Is your family physician your Facebook friend? Mine is. And yes, I’ve sent requests for medical advice to her “Inbox.” She also texts me—sometimes on the weekends, and, her office has recently adopted a system that allows me online access to my test results and current medical records.
Seem unusual? In fact, it may surprise you to know how rapidly this trend is catching on. My family doc is just one of a growing number of physicians who are embracing technology as a means of communicating with their patients on a more frequent and personal level.
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Brand surfing
Apply 5 basics of surfing to managing your brand.
Having recently relocated to Southern California, I soon discovered a sport that hundreds and thousands participate in on a daily basis: surfing.
People in Southern California surf in the morning, during their lunch breaks, and immediately after work. They have it down to a science, equipping their cars with gear beforehand and following some basic rules that help make their surf time enjoyable.
So, while sitting and observing the surfers I got thinking about the need for marketers to keep things simple when preparing to brand a product. Here are 5 basic rules of surfing that marketers can put into practice.
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